The Perfect Eve to Christmas
by Silver B. Wingsfield
Summary: A little fluffy Christmas Eve. Lily is found to not be having Christmas alone. Well, James is not going to have any of that and gives her the best Christmas time she's ever had.


The Perfect Eve to Christmas

Lily was lying on the couch of the common room. It was eleven at night and she was reading, completely oblivious of the time. James walked down from his dormitory and saw her. Everyone had left home by now. 23 December. His parents had arrangements to finish for their annual party so he was expected home tomorrow.

"Lily?" he said.

"Oh! Hi. What are you doing down here?" she asked, startled.

"I was going to ask you that since you're the one who's always early to bed, early to rise."

"Oh," then she saw the clock. "Oh! I didn't notice. I was reading."

"Yes, I'm not surprised. What's it about?" he inquired, taking a seat next to her and nudging her feet down to make way.

"Just a muggle book I like."

"Well, do tell," he teased a bit.

Lily laughed and elaborated on Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. She told him all about Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation.

"That sounds like a terrible book," James commented.

"What! Don't be ridiculous, James. It's wonderful, not only in quality but in the morals. About how the miracle of Christmas can redefine a person and change them, making them a new and better person and think of things and people differently. Someone who'd rather help the less fortunate than horde wealth for themselves. It shows why greed is a terrible thing and that helping others can be so much more rewarding. Tell me now, how is that an awful book?" Lily argued.

"Scrooge is an awful person and I don't see why Mr. Dickens would make him the empathized protagonist," James reasoned pleasantly.

"It's the change in him that makes him so charming, not his past self. You have to judge a person's character on who they truly are and not who they were."

James looked at her for a moment, just looking at her. Not thinking of anything, just looking at his beautiful Lily. Finally he thought about the two of them. How they had both changed from first year was amazing to him. They had grown together and so had his love for her. Her feelings had changed little. This year they went from hate to friendliness and that's the most they had.

"Why aren't you home for Christmas, Lily?" James asked innocently.

Lily looked away from him, looking solemn, and down at the cover of her book tracing the embroidered title and author names. After a deep breath she said, "I really don't want to impose my presence where it is unwanted."

"How could you be unwanted?" he retorted, not missing a beat.

Lily laughed again and the sweet sound touched her eyes. James felt that being able to see that in her eyes when she looked at him was the best Christmas gift anyone had ever given him.

"Well, first off, thank you. And secondly, my sister and I really don't get along. She decided to bring her fiancé home and so she… asked if I wouldn't be there to meet him. And I obliged," Lily said simply.

"That's awful. You shouldn't have conceded to that," James said slowly becoming more frustrated with Lily's family as the moments passed.

"It's alright. I really don't mind Christmas by myself. I still have my presents!"

"No. You're going to have an amazing Christmas with people who really want you there and who love you."

"And how do you plan to get that to happen?" Lily asked very amusedly.

"Because you are going to have Christmas at my house," James said very simply.

"That is very sweet of you James but I really can't impose on your family."

"Nonsense! They'd love to have you. The guys will be there, naturally, and now you. And my parents always have an amazing Christmas party every year. They love having a full house, especially on holidays. Mostly because they only have one child."

"Well, if they wanted more kids why didn't they have any more?" Lily asked.

James looked down but answered anyways, "Well, My mom was older than most when they had me and after I was born, the doctors said that if my mom tried to have any more kids, she might not make it. They even said they were surprised I didn't kill her…"

"Oh, James, don't talk like that. You make it seem like it's your fault. And we all know it's not," Lily said strongly.

James laughed at her way of making him feel better. "So, you'll come?"

Lily weighed the pros and cons for a moment. She knew that James might still like her and she would be giving him false hope. But he had not asked her out all year and they really were friends. And she did really want to meet his parents.

"Yes, James. I'd love to spend Christmas at your house."

~*~

The Potter's Estate was epic. They had twenty acres of land. Some for the horses and stables they had, some on the small lake, and some on their huge home. All of this seemed to pale in comparison the Potters themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were very good looking people even in their age. It should have really been no surprise considering their son's appearance. Not only were their appearance and wealth impressive but their intelligence and kindness were also unseen by Lily, until that point, in the adults of the Wizarding world, except for perhaps Dumbledore.

"Lily! Darling, you don't know how excited I am to meet you! I feel like I already know you due to how much I hear about you from James. I absolutely must know if you are truly as singular as he portrays you," was Mrs. Potter's warm and rushed greeting to Lily at the gate.

"Mum!" James said behind Lily. He smiled sheepishly at Lily and glared at his mom a second. Lily simply laughed. She was afraid to disappoint Mrs. Potter and her preconceptions from James.

"Oh hush, James. I doubt the girl is surprised you gush so much about her," Mr. Potter added. "Come now. Let's get you settled in. We still have several things to do before the guests arrive tonight." He then proceeded to usher James and Lily into the house up the long drive.

"Tonight?" Lily whispered frantically in James's ear.

"Yes, the party is tonight. What did you think?"

"I thought it would be Christmas night, not Christmas Eve," Lily explained.

"Well, why would anyone go out on Christmas? That's time to spend with the family," James said.

"Oh. Yes, of course. I should have realized," Lily looked away a little embarrassed.

"It's fine. You better enjoy yourself too, otherwise I will grieve in humiliation," James said melodramatically.

"I promise. I would absolutely _hate_ to embarrass you," she replied. The humor was lost on no one within earshot, considering all the times she had publically humiliated him in the past.

"Well, good then. I know you'll love the party. We Marauders always make sure it's a roaring good time," James said with a gleam in his eye.

"James, darling," Mrs. Potter said warningly. "You boys better not be too troublesome this year. Especially not if Lily is here for the holidays."

"Don't worry, mum. You know we're always utter angels."

~*~

Lily's room was spectacular. The walls were red and the curtains and sheets were white. She wondered if this was a guest bedroom what James' room looked like. There was dress on the bed too. It was a lovely navy blue dress with shining sparkles from the top and fading down. It was quite fancy and she was glad that the Potters had provided it for her since she had obviously underestimated the formality of the party.

It was two o'clock so Lily decided to explore the expansive residence. Just off the corridor that led to her room was the grand staircase. There were all sorts of people scurrying about getting things ready, hanging decorations, and moving things out of the way. Lily scuttled away from the commotion and followed another corridor where there weren't any people. She looked in some of the rooms as she went. She found some portrait galleries and studies, but the most wonderful room of all was the great library she found. It was beautiful with tall stacks and the coziest chairs.

Lily was skimming through some of the books when she heard someone come in.

"Lily?"

"James?"

"Ah there you are," James said peeking over the top of the large chair she was in. "I went to look for you in your room and you weren't there. Some of the caterers said you had gone down this way and I knew you'd find the library," he explained as he sunk down in the chair with her. Their bodies were pushed together now. Lily was somewhat surprised to see James so unaffected by this contact. But she was quite wrong.

"Yeah, I got a little caught up here," she said blushing and turned her face away so he wouldn't see.

"I only assumed so much. We've got to get ready now I think. The guests arrive at about seven."

"What time is it now?" Lily asked.

"Half five," he said nonchalantly.

"Oh goodness!" Lily exclaimed. "I need to get ready now. I still have to shower and find out what to do with my hair. I'm sorry, James. I'll see you in a bit."

"Wait, Lily! I wanted to ask you something," James said.

"Yes?"

"Um… uh, well-"

"C'mon James, I don't have all day," Lily said.

"I just hoped you'd save a dance for me tonight," James said quickly looking downward.

Lily paused. "Oh… of course I will, James." And she left to get ready, extra special, for someone would be expecting her now.

And James, well… did a little happy dance.

~*~

Everything was utterly perfect. The ball room in the Potter's home was beautiful. Little pixy lights hung from the blue and gold streamers and the windows were frosted from the outside from the cold and the whole room seemed to glow. James stood at the bottom of the stairs welcoming guests and looking over his shoulder every few seconds.

"Prongs, you look like you've got a tick. Calm down already," said Sirius who was standing next to him.

"What are you talking about?" James shot back.

"Your constant look out for Evans is tiring to watch," Remus said.

"Psha! What ? I don't know what you're trying to say," James said seemingly oblivious.

"Maybe you'll understand once you turn around…" Sirius said.

James's head whipped around so fast it should have spun off. At the top of the staircase was the loveliest sight he'd ever seen. A smiling Lily. She was stunning and walking down the staircase slowly so as not to fall. Her hair was softly curled and pulled back a bit on each side with shining little pins. But the best of all to James was that she was smiling so happily and it was straight at him. Soon she was in front of him.

"Happy Christmas, James," she said softly with a little blush. He was staring at her.

"Um… uh…"

"He means 'Happy Christmas, Lily'" Sirius supplied.

James turned around and glared venomously at Sirius, who merely shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Well, Happy Christmas, Lily," James said finally.

"So, would you mind giving a girl your arm?" Lily teased a bit.

"Abslutely!" James proceeded to hold his arm out to her. Lily giggled and took it. James escorted her into the ballroom and introduced her to some old family friends and got her drinks and was an utter gentleman.

Lily was wonderfully surprised to see this charming James. And so she asked him, "How about that dance, James?"

"Uh, yeah yeah, of course!" he stuttered a bit and put down his drink. Another song started to play by the band and they waltzed to it for a while. The two kept eye contact as they danced and he spun her around and neither could stop smiling. They were dancing very close together now and were getting ever closer until of course-

BAM!

They looked away quickly and saw that the punch bowl was spouting confetti and fireworks all over the place. Blue and gold sparks and paper flew all about the guests. No one seemed upset by it though. All the guests laughed and were merrier. Lily however looked at James with a glare.

"So," he began. "Still think people can really change because of Christmas?"

Lily smiled and said, "Yes." And she grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him right on the lips. His hands held her around the waist. This little exchange was lost to the merry guests of the party however.

When the two finally pulled themselves apart, James said with a laugh, "Oh, Bahumbug!"

~*~

Just a little something I had to write. And yes I know, I should be writing more Um… Professor? but whatever, penalize me later. I'm working on it (finally) I promise. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hopefully yours is better than mine. **The best gift you can give an author is a review.**


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